Related papers: Proofs of power sum and binomial coefficient congr…

Let $p$ be a prime and ${\mathfrak P}_p$ the set of positive integers which are prime to $p$. Recently, Wang and Cai proved that for every positive integer $r$ and prime $p>2$ $$ \sum_{\substack{i+j+k=p^r\\ i,j,k\in{\mathfrak P}_p}}…

Let $p>3$ be a prime. For any $p$-adic integer $a$, we determine $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{-a}k\binom{a-1}kH_k,\ \ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{-a}k\binom{a-1}kH_k^{(2)},\ \ \sum_{k=0}^{p-1}\binom{-a}k\binom{a-1}k\frac{H_k^{(2)}}{2k+1}$$ modulo…

Let $p\ge 5$ be a prime, and let $q_p(2):=(2^{p-1}-1)/p$ be the Fermat quotient of $p$ to base 2. The following curious congruence was conjectured by L. Skula and proved by A. Granville $$ q_p(2)^2\equiv…

Let p1, p2,..., pn be distinct prime numbers, and let Nn be their product. We prove that, for any positive integer L that is divisible by the least common multiple of p1 minus one, p2 minus one, and so on, and for integers a1, a2,..., an…

In a recent paper the authors studied the denominators of polynomials that represent power sums by Bernoulli's formula. Here we extend our results to power sums of arithmetic progressions. In particular, we obtain a simple explicit…

The aim of this work is to establish congruences $\left( \operatorname{mod}p^{2}\right) $ involving the trinomial coefficients $\binom{np-1}{p-1}_{2}$ and $\binom{np-1}{\left( p-1\right)/2}_{2}$ arising from the expansion of the powers of…

Many generating series of combinatorially interesting numbers have the property that the sum of the terms of order $<p$ at some suitable point is congruent to a zero of a zeta-function modulo infinitely many primes $p$. Surprisingly, very…

In 1853 Sylvester stated and proved an elegant formula that expresses the polynomial subresultants in terms of the roots of the input polynomials. Sylvester's formula was also recently proved by Lascoux and Pragacz by using multi-Schur…

For various positive integers $k$, the sums of $k$th powers of the first $n$ positive integers, $S_k(n+1)=1^k+2^k+...+n^k$, have got to be some of the most popular sums in all of mathematics. In this note we prove that for each $k\ge 2 $$…

Let $m$ and $n>0$ be integers. Suppose that $p$ is a prime dividing $m-4$ but not dividing $m$. We show that $\nu_p(\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\frac{\binom{2k}k}{m^k})$ and $\nu_p(\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{n-1}{k}(-1)^k\frac{\binom{2k}k}{m^k})$ are at…

The arithmetic properties of the ordinary partition function $p(n)$ have been the topic of intensive study for the past century. Ramanujan proved that there are linear congruences of the form $p(\ell n+\beta)\equiv 0\pmod\ell$ for the…

It is shown that the polynomial \[p(t) = \text{Tr}[(A+tB)^m]\] has positive coefficients when $m = 6$ and $A$ and $B$ are any two 3-by-3 complex Hermitian positive definite matrices. This case is the first that is not covered by prior,…

Let $p>5$ be a prime. Motivated by the known formulae $\sum_{k=1}^\infty(-1)^k/(k^3\binom{2k}{k})=-2\zeta(3)/5$ and $\sum_{k=0}^\infty \binom{2k}{k}^2/((2k+1)16^k)=4G/\pi$$ (where $G=\sum_{k=0}^\infty(-1)^k/(2k+1)^2$ is the Catalan…

Sum of powers 1^p+...+n^p, with n and p being natural numbers and n>=1, can be expressed as a polynomial function of n of degree p+1. Such representations are often called Faulhaber formulae. A simple recursive algorithm for computing…

We prove a $q$-analog of a classical binomial congruence due to Ljunggren which states that \[ \binom{a p}{b p} \equiv \binom{a}{b} \] modulo $p^3$ for primes $p\ge5$. This congruence subsumes and builds on earlier congruences by Babbage,…

By using the Rodriguez-Villegas-Mortenson supercongruences, we prove four supercongruences on sums involving binomial coefficients, which were originally conjectured by Sun. We also confirm a related conjecture of Guo on integer-valued…

Let $p>3$ be a prime, and let $a$ be a rational p-adic integer with $a\not\equiv 0\pmod p$. In this paper we establish congruences for $$\sum_{k=1}^{(p-1)/2}\frac{\binom ak\binom{-1-a}k}k, \quad\sum_{k=0}^{(p-1)/2}k\binom ak\binom{-1-a}k…

Using an identity arising in the known Banach probability problem on matchboxes, we prove an unexpected congruence for odd prime $p:$ for $1\leq k\leq \frac{p-1}{2},\enskip \sum_{i=1}^{p-2k-1}2^{i-1}\binom{k-1+i}{k}\equiv 0\pmod p.$

Through a series of elementary exercises, we explain the fractal structure of Pascal's triangle when written modulo $p$ using an 1852 theorem due to Kummer: A prime $p$ divides $\dfrac {n!}{i!j!} $ if and only if there is a carry in the…

We give an elementary probabilistic proof of a binomial identity. The proof is obtained by computing the probability of a certain event in two different ways, yielding two different expressions for the same quantity.